Yesterday, the Ubuntu 12.10 Touch developer preview was released. Canonical provided a method for the public to flash a preview build of the new operating system to the most recent Nexus devices: Galaxy Nexus (GSM), Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. Eventually, I was pointed in the direction of this xda-developers thread, which makes the install much more quick and simple.

The instructions in the thread are pretty straightforward, but they lack some details – details that are important for novices in the Android modding world. Check out the video below to see how to get Ubuntu for Tablets up and running on your Nexus 7.

Files you will need

You will also need ADB (Android Debug Bridge) installed and setup on your computer. And the bootloader on your Nexus 7 needs to be unlocked. (Don’t forget to backup!) Once you’ve taken care of those two things, you are ready to begin.

How to install Ubuntu

Boot Nexus 7 to the bootloader (power down, press and hold power, volume up and volume down simultaneously). Plug it into the computer, and in Terminal, change directory to where you saved the TWRP file and type “fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.4.1.0-grouper.img”.

Once TWRP is flashed and you have booted to recovery mode, perform a backup and move the backup to an external hard drive. Then perform a factory reset from within TWRP.

From the home page of TWRP, select Advanced, then select ADB Sideload. From Terminal on the computer, change directory to where you have the Ubuntu images saved. First type “adb sideload quantal-preinstalled-armel+grouper.zip”. Once that finishes, type “adb sideload quantal-preinstalled-phablet-armhf.zip”. This process will take some time. Once it completes, tap Reboot System and wait.